Smoky Kale and Bean Soup

by jenna on March 4, 2014

Why hello, March!

It’s been raining here pretty much nonstop for the past three weeks. In my book, rain equals soup weather. Doesn’t it always? Especially when there’s a side of warm bread and butter to go along with that soup. Obviously.

I made this simple satisfying soup to use up the plethora of kale in our CSA box! We got SO much kale! And hey, there’s only so many kale smoothies and juices a girl can handle.

I love the combination of kale and beans, and was very happy with the way this soup turned out! Adam, who is more of a meat and potatoes guy than a “soups for dinner” kind of guy, practically licked his bowl clean. He slurped the final few spoonfuls. No kidding. When I asked him afterward what he thought, he said, “well, it tasted really healthy…but also really, really good!” I like to thank the bacon for that. Heh.

Check out all that kale! After I cleaned it up, chopped it and removed the stems it really only equaled a big bowlful, though.

Sidenote: I got these really neat green veggie bags last month that keep your veggies fresh in the fridge for literally weeks! We have a really small fridge with practically no room in the *one* crisper box, so I had to get creative. I wasn’t sure these bags would be worth the price but they totally were! And, you can reuse them a few times. I’m not lying when I say that my kale lasts two weeks in these bags. Amazing!

I used cannellini beans in this recipe that I cooked the night before. I like to cook my own beans whenever I can because it’s cheaper to buy them dry in bulk and I just think they taste better. The extra step really isn’t all that time consuming and I find it to be totally worth it! You could obviously use canned beans here {whatever bean you like} if that’s what you already have on hand though.

Roast the poblano pepper over an open flame on a gas burning stove OR under “broil high” settings in an electric stove. You want the skin to be pretty much totally blackened. This will take anywhere from 10-20 minutes depending on your stove. Once blackened, carefully and quickly transfer into a small plastic ziploc bag. Seal bag and set aside.

In a heavy bottomed pot or dutch oven, fry the bacon until crisp then remove and set aside to crumble later. Pour off all but 1 tbsp bacon grease and add the chopped onions and carrots. Saute for 10 minutes, until onions start to turn golden around the edges. Add the garlic and continue sauteing for another 2 minutes.

At this time your pepper should be cool enough to handle. Rub off as much of the blackened skin as you can, remove the seeds and roughly chop remaining pepper. Add this to the onion and carrot mixture.

Add the chopped kale and toss well to combine. Pour in the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Add salt and smoked paprika. Add beans and crumbled bacon. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes for flavors to combine before serving.

Love how you slipped “the veggies are sauteed in bacon grease” so casually at the end. My husband’s not a big soup guy (we’re in couples counseling to address this issue), but I have a feeling this might change his tune!

This looks really delicious. Question for you: As a fellow pregnant lady, I’m planning to prep some freezer meals before the baby gets here (I’m due a few weeks after you). I’m not sure if you’re planning to do the same, but if so, do you have any tried-and-true freezable meals on your site? Can I tempt you to write a post on this? For purely unselfish reasons

I love your pictures! That kale is seriously beautiful…I’m adding this soup of things to make. We don’t have rain, but lots of snow, so I think that justifies soup, too. The added smokiness is an unexpected twist that I love!